MRI Scanners at the
McDermott Clinical Science Building

PROJECT FACTS:

$11M in funding for three magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and a governmental secure room granted to the HSC.

Facilities Management began renovation for this project on September 2007 at the McDermott Clinical Science Building. Ninety one skilled craftsmen, technicians, designers, and custodial and grounds personnel logged more than 11,000 hours of work towards the completion of the project.

The three MRI scanners, supplied and delivered from Germany by Bruker Corporation, have field strengths of 3T, 7T, and 11T. The magnet in an MRI scanner is rated using a unit of measure known as a tesla. Magnets in MRIs today are in the 0-5.tesla to 2.0 tesla range. The higher the field strength, the faster and more powerful the scanner to provide images clear and easy to read. The 3T scanner will be utilized for human scanning; both the 7T and 11T will be used for animal research.

Under FM supervision, Shielding Dynamics, Inc. (SDI) was contracted to construct copper shielding rooms to house each of the scanners. A SDI employee noted that in 18 years of constructing copper rooms for hospitals and universities, he had never seen a magnet being placed with such a high field strength as that with the 11T. Institutions around the world are eager to apply for the use of this special equipment.

Project information and photos provided by Lisa Graziano, Work Control Coordinator for Facilities Management.